SIR, yes SIR: How voter deletions impacted West Bengal elections | India News
West Bengal has become saffron. Mamata BanerjeeIts 15-year rule ended and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to form its first government in the state. So, what contributed to this decisive political shift in the state’s electoral landscape? Well, there were multiple factors that contributed to the result, but the most controversial was the revision of the electoral roll – SIR.
Over 90% voter registration in Bengal in this election, the highest ever.
How SIR becomes the defining issue of selection
The Special Intensive Revision of Voters List (SIR) has emerged as a central and deeply contested factor shaping the 2026 West Bengal election contest. The exercise resulted in the deletion of nearly 91 lakh names – about 12% of the electorate – significantly altering the voter base ahead of the polls. Of these, more than 60 lakh are classified as dead, while the status of 27 lakh is pending or under scrutiny.According to various reports, a large section of the victims were Muslims, while sections of the Matua community and many Hindus were also affected. The BJP has created the SIR for the necessary clean-up of voter lists with a view to removing ‘invalid’ or duplicate entries. But Mamata’s party hit back and described the exercise as systematic disenfranchisement leading to an open war of words.Regardless of these competing narratives, the scale and spread of the erasure reshaped voting trends in ways that coincided with the rise of the BJP across the state. The total voter base has come down from 7.66 crore to around 7.04 crore, who are still pending.
How SIR Impacted 2026 State Elections in Bengal
Selective information: Mapping SIR deletions with results
A closer look at the electoral-level results indicates a strong correlation between SIR-linked deletions and BJP gains.Regardless of whether the number of deletions crossed 25,000 or fell below that threshold, the BJP improved its performance in constituencies that witnessed significant deletions. In 169 assembly constituencies where over 25,000 names were deleted, the TMC dominated in 2021, winning 128 seats compared to 41 for the BJP. This time, however, the balance has shifted significantly.In the remaining 124 seats, where less than 25,000 were deleted, the BJP’s numbers rose dramatically from 36 to 108 in 2021 – marking a threefold increase. This indicates that the party’s gains were not limited to maximum deletions but spread across a broad electoral spectrum influenced by rectification practices.Of the 38 constituencies where ‘logical anomalies’ were the most removed, the TMC won 34 seats in 2021. Its tally has come down to 22 in the current polls, marking the erosion of its earlier dominance in this pocket.Even in high-deletion regions, the results were not uniform. Of the six constituencies that cleared maximum SIRs, the TMC managed to retain only four — Chowrangi, Shamserganj, Metiaburoj and Kolkata Bandar — while the BJP captured Jorasanko and Howrah North. It should be noted that the party led by Mamata had won all the six seats in the previous elections.Apart from Jorasanko, the BJP made significant inroads in Kolkata and border areas by winning Maniktala, Shyampukur and Kossipur-Belgachia in Kolkata North and increased its gains in Rashbehari, Behala East, Bidhannagar, Baranagar, Dum Dum, Dum Dum North and Rajarhat-Gopalpur. It also won Behala West, Talliganj and Jadavpur seats – all constituencies with more than 25,000 deleted and previously held by the Trinamool.Farakka was an exception. Despite witnessing over 25,000 deletions, the BJP failed to win the seat. Congress candidate Mutab Shaikh, whose name was initially deleted during the SIR, successfully appealed through an Appellate Tribunal – one of 19 formed following the Supreme Court’s directive – and his voting rights were restored. He won the seat by a margin of 8,193 votes defeating BJP candidate Sunil Chowdhury.
Margins, deletions and selective effects
The relationship between deletions and margin of victory further underscores the effect of SIR. Of the 187 seats where more than 5,000 names were deleted, the BJP won 119.Of the 119 BJP seats, 28 were wiped out by more than the margin of victory of its candidates. 26 of these were won by Trinamool in 2021.Of the 20 constituencies with the highest number of deletions after the verdict, the TMC won 13, the BJP six and the Congress one. However, in the 2021 elections, all 20 were secured by the Trinamool, highlighting the relative difficulty it faced this time.
BJP’s ‘security fortress’ to ensure smooth SIR process
The SIR exercise was accompanied by an unprecedented security deployment. More than 2.4 lakh personnel of the Central Armed Police Force were deployed across West Bengal – more than three times the level seen in 2021 – in what the BJP described as a ‘security bastion’.The massive deployment, along with strict oversight by the Election Commission of India, has become another key pillar in enabling what the BJP describes as “free and fair polls” in the politically volatile state.At one point, Mamata approached the Supreme Court over the use of only central government employees as counting supervisors, but the court refused to intervene.
The Matua Factor: Identity, Anxiety and Integration
Matua community emerged as another important electoral variable shaped by SIR practices. Despite discontent and concerns over the large-scale erasure surrounding citizenship documentation under the CAA, the BJP has maintained its foothold in Matua-dominated areas like Bangaon and Nadia.The deletion of about 1.2 lakh names under SIR triggered social and political tension in the area. In Nadia’s six assembly constituencies, more than 90% of the final voters under the verdict did not make it to the electoral roll. A similar pattern was observed in Bangaon, where deletion rates ranged from 67% to 88%.Baghdad became a focal point of this contest, witnessing a high-profile battle between the influential Thakurbari family. BJP candidate Soma Thakur defeated Trinamool MLA Madhuparna Thakur by 34,321 votes. The BJP also retained Bangaon North and secured Haringhata by a considerable margin.Despite concerns over exclusion, the Matua electorate – a marginalized Hindu community comprising primarily the Namasudra Scheduled Caste group – has been seen rallying behind the BJP.
Disenfranchisement vs electoral integrity
Clearly, the SIR exercise was the most dominant narrative throughout the election and will continue to be debated for time to come. The opposition sees the SIR as a tool to target and purge their voters, while the BJP justifies it as a much-needed exercise to clean up the voter rolls.
